YARD WORK

We have been working on improving our yard for quite some time. The person that we bought the house from had invested a lot of money into the curbside appeal. Unfortunately, when the house did not sell as quickly as he had hoped, he let everything go. The yard was a wreck when we moved in, but we saw a lot of potential to it. A patio here, a garden there....and well....a yard was born. The most relaxing, tranquil evening is spent hanging out back with nothing but a glass of wine and the beautiful landscape. I am still working on getting Jen and Doug to see what I see. They like having a nice yard, but I don't think they see it the same way as I do. Here are some before and after pictures. Mom and Dad came up for a week and spent A LOT of time helping us with this. Dad refused to leave until the garden was built. They too should take a lot of pride in this. It would not look this great without their help. Thanks Mom and Dad, and I expect you to visit soon to spend and evening with me.

Easter = Spring

My sister and her family were in town for Easter weekend. It was so nice to be able to have them here. We are lucky that we have a house big enough for guests when they come over.

My oldest nephew, might look like an angel, but he is the reincarnation of the HELLRAISER! If you can't find him, just wait a second, look for the trail of toys, and listen for the high pitched screeching that will soon follow and you will find the little guy. He is so much fun though. I was helping him climb a tree and he is so determined to get to the top even if it means falling out of the tree a couple of times.

Our little Tigger has learned to crawl and was

all over the place.

He is such a good little guy. He very rarely cries, and is just so happy and bubbly all the time. Put him on the ground and watch him go. And if you do a little dance for him he gets so excited! I just want to pinch his cheeks all the time.

We got to go to the Zoo on Sunday after a delicious brunch; Jen made fritatas and bloody marys.

The weather was beautiful, and all the animals were out and it was such a gorgeous day. I forgot how much fun the Zoo is.

It's a whirlwind!

OK, so I got promoted. This is such a huge, huge life changing turn of events, that I still can not wrap my brain around. I'm the boss, the bigwig, the head honcho, the big cheese.....and I still can't believe it. YAYAYYAYAYAYAYAYYAAY! That is me being excited. So today, to try and take my mind off the magnitude of thoughts a swirling in my cabasa, I cleaned my house. A lot. I cleaned the baseboards, dusted absolutely everything (which is one of my least favorite things to do) cleaned all the stainless steel and mopped and cleaned. And I clean often, but wow. I got to it. Anywhoo, in the process of all the cleaning, I glanced out the window and saw my entire front lawn covered with birds. Sparrows, I believe. (Thanks Mom and Dad. They have bird watching books.) I think it is an omen......of good things to come. Of success. Of happiness. Of hope. I am always one of those people who see something tiny, insignificant, and it's a sign. You know, plastic bag blowing in the wind and all of that. (American Beauty reference)

So, I feel better. I'm less stressed and more optimistic. But I still need to finish cleaning my house.

Christmas!!!

I love the holidays. Ok, let me rephrase, I love the holidays at home. When I am here in town, and I am working, I am pretty much the biggest scrooge ever. I have listened to chrismas music day in and day out for 1 1/2 months for 11 years. That acounts for 330 days, which is almost a year of my life spent listening to Christmas music. On top of that, all of the holiday shoppers who go out to eat afterward are not at all in the holiday spirit after being trampled to death in shopping centers. And don't even get me started on the traffic. Then magically, after making a harrowing journey over ice and through storms, 5 hours later......I'm with my family, and it's CHRISTMAS!!! The warm feeling you get when you smell a Turkey baking in the oven, or the candle that my mom lights or the smell of freshly baked cake, cookies, fudge. The smiles on everyones face, because we're all together, or the high pitched yelling of my nephew saying "Faster! Faster!" his first time in the snow on a sled. Oh then I love the holidays. I had a great Christmas. Thanks to my Mom and Dad for doing all that they can to make it super special for us. The only down point was that Kim wasn't able to be there on Christmas day. Here are Jammie and Liam. I heard the our little town got 19 inches of snow on the 25th. It was beautiful.

Wow. I am horrible.

Christmas time is a busy time. What can I say. I think I forgot that I even had a blog. Anyhoo. I will post something after the holidays. I will be heading to home to see my Mom and Dad, and I can't wait. Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Long time, no see

So, I really have to say that I can not believe that I was so against having a blog for such a long time. It has been so amazing to hear from people that I haven't heard from in forever. Maybe I'm just being ultra sensitive or nostalgic because I won't be able to go to the reunion, but it is so great to be able to reconnect with old friends that I've lost touch with. So to all of you, thank you for letting me get a small peek into your lives. I didn't realize how much I missed everyone.

YAY!!

Jen and I made a quick trip home last weekend. We left very late Saturday night. I was bored on the way there and took some pics. Just to give you the feel of the drive, here is a picture for you. What we went home for......was to see our older sister and THE BABIES! OK, so Liam is not a baby anymore. He is a cute little boy who makes me laugh all the time. Except for when he is spitting at me. Then he is a brat. Well Jammie, my sister, had a job interview and SHE GOT THE JOB. Her and Russ and the boys are moving back to Idaho. We are so excited. We had such a great weekend with Erica and her family. Sunday night we had a big family BBQ with Grandma, Brian, Jason, Julie and Paul. The food was great. Just sitting around hanging with the whole family is my idea of a perfect weekend.